SPECPOL

AISHA SAIDY
​​As sad as the topic of war and mercenaries may be, the gossip box contained more than one happy surprise to cheer the session up. With multiple love confessions and a few challenges for the delegates, we were entertained with such varied songs fromI will always love youtoThe Marseillaise.

Since following the rules is crucial, Russia and Brazil were punished for failing to use the second person by being forced to dance toBarbie Girland the delegates who arrived late had to perform the macarena, showing us how it is done in France.

But not all was fun and games and at URJCmun we take our jobs very seriously. Multiple unmoderated caucuses were utilized in order to create a resolution to regulate PMCs internationally, which passed with 18 votes in favor.

The first session began with a summary of the points discussed yesterday since we were joined for the first time by two new countries (Nigeria and Congo) and Amnesty International. The countries who’ve been here since the beginning seemed to have become more acquainted with each other since note passing became more prominent.

The most important topic became whether or not countries should create international laws to regulate the use of contractors. When Turkey stated that national laws were enough, Palestine implied that if that was the case women still wouldn’t be able to vote today and urged the delegates to create a legal framework to manage this issue,

Tension arose when the United States was forced to defend themselves after a news article about an alleged chemical attack by American hired PMCs in Gaza was leaked. This lead to a debate between the countries about whether or not the news sources should or could be trusted. The delegate claimed that it could not be proved that the attack was carried out by them but the State of Palestine, who has butt heads more than once with the United States so far, condemned their actions and defended the legitimacy of the press.